


Last One Standing

by Shadaras



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 12:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16346411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadaras/pseuds/Shadaras
Summary: The Rebel Alliance restores a back-up of K-2SO, weeks after the battle of Yavin IV, and his first thought is of Cassian.





	Last One Standing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nemirovitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemirovitch/gifts).



> This is a slightly sideways interpretation of machine ghosts. I hope you like it!

The Rebel Alliance rebooted him from a backup, and the first question he asked—as soon as his optical processors came online, and he realised that the person who should be working with him wasn’t there at all—was “Where’s Cassian?”

The technician (unimportant: interchangeable, useless, not nearly as precise or trustworthy as Cassian) blanched and stammered something about classified information.

K-2SO rose to his feet (all systems checked out; this new body was acceptable for the moment) and looked around. The last download had been in the Yavin IV base. This was still the Yavin IV base. Data uplink said that eighteen days, three hours, and twenty-six minutes had passed since his backup. K-2SO started downloading the newsfeed, and said, “Is Mon Mothma still here?”

“Ah, that is—” This technician was impressively useless. They flailed their arms and stepped back as K-2SO loomed forward. “Yes. Yes, she still is, but—”

“Thank you,” K-2SO said, because Cassian would expect it of him, and strode past the technician. They had nothing of use to say. Not worth listening to at all.

The base was excited. Buzzing. The droids and the holonet uplink told him it was because they had destroyed the Death Star. K-2SO’s last backup told him that he had been about to head out to recover plans. Cassian must have been successful. Jyn Erso and Bodhi Rook must have been more useful than he expected they would be. K-2SO was... glad, he supposed. Cassian needed more trustworthy people around him.

Mon Mothma was in her office, which K-2SO had predicted would be true, given she was at the base. (Probability: 74.3%. The remainder broke down into a 8.9% chance of her being asleep, a 16.1% chance of her being in a meeting, and a final .7% of her walking through the corridors on her way to a more likely place.) The technician had likely warned her of K-2SO’s arrival, which was immaterial but meant they were less likely to be interrupted.

“Kaytoo,” Mon Mothma said, rising smoothly to her feet. “I’m glad to see you are functional again.”

K-2SO nodded. “Our mission was a success.”

Mon Mothma’s eyes glistened. K-2SO knew that meant something to humans, but human emotions were not his strong suit. “Yes,” she said. “At—a great cost.”

His processors whirred. K-2SO kept himself focused on Mon Mothma’s words.

“None of your team survived,” Mon Mothma said.

K-2SO’s processors stopped.

“Cassian,” he said.

“He’s dead, Kaytoo.”

The expression on Mon Mothma’s face matched to a human emotion K-2SO knew was called _compassion_ , which many sentient species extended to people in distress.

K-2SO nodded.

His servos felt sticky. The technician must not have cleaned this body as well as they should have.

“Please let me know when I can be of service,” he said. His voice modulators were even less expressive than usual. Strange. He would need to defragment and ensure that his programming was functioning optimally.

He would do so in Cassian’s room.

(Was it still Cassian’s room?)

K-2SO stopped in the doorway to Cassian’s room. It looked just like every memory he had of it. Neat. Sparse. A good changing station, just for him. K-2SO allowed himself to collapse into the chair and lock into the charging station.

He pulled up memories and allowed them to play as he charged, sinking into recall.

He would come out of it again when he was needed. Until then, he would wait with Cassian, exactly where he was supposed to be.


End file.
